Why do digital cables sound different?


I have been talking to a few e-mail buddies and have a question that isn't being satisfactorily answered this far. So...I'm asking the experts on the forum to pitch in. This has probably been asked before but I can't find any references for it. Can someone explain why one DIGITAL cable (coaxial, BNC, etc.) can sound different than another? There are also similar claims for Toslink. In my mind, we're just trying to move bits from one place to another. Doesn't the digital stream get reconstituted and re-clocked on the receiving end anyway? Please enlighten me and maybe send along some URLs for my edification. Thanks, Dan
danielho

Showing 3 responses by geoffkait

Having had Audioquest Truth solid copper conductor with air dielectric and Audioquest Truth solid silver conductor with air dielectric digital cables for comparison, it was obvious, in my system at least, there were important differences in how they sounded.
The digital cables are carrying "analog" signals. They're all analog signals. You didn't think they were carrying 1s and 0s did you?
Mapman, to cut to the chase, at least in my system when I had a digital cable, copper outshone silver, whereas for the interconnects it was vice versa. Both the interconnects and digital cable were Audioquest Lapis Truth, same construction, dielectric, etc. Just the conductor was different. YRMV.